FLOCK HOUSE OMAHA: INHABITANTS

Mary Mattingly’s artistic practice often depends on the active participation of other people.

During Mattingly's residency at the Bemis Center, she collaborated with Omaha community members to design and fabricate two structures known as Flock Houses, which were then deployed at the Bemis Center in the Old Market and at Carver Bank in North Omaha. Her Flock Houses explore the future of urban space, self-sufficiency, dependency and the community’s role in making shared spaces habitable.

Consistent with Mattingly’s social concerns, she intended that they would be occupied by local creatives rather than placed as purely sculptural objects in the community. During her residency, she invited members of the local community to submit proposals then selected local artists, activists, writers, musicians, architects, designers, urban farmers and other members of the community to occupy the Flock Houses over the summer. The result, an array of urban activity which included band practice, print workshops, pop-up shops, group discussions, youth workshops, and quiet meditations. Individually, each project provided the occupants with an opportunity to further their own research or practice, and collectively, with Mattingly’s vision of how we might occupy and inhabit our urban landscape in new ways.